Optical information storage medium and method of recording information thereon

ABSTRACT

An optical information storage medium includes a lead-in area, a user data zone in which user data is recorded, and a lead-out area. Write protection information is recorded in at least one of the lead-in area and the lead-out area, together with defect management information. Information is recorded and/or reproduced according to the defect management information and the write protection information. The write protection information indicates a size of a write protected area differentiated from a plurality of sizes of write protected areas of the optical information storage medium.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/630,977, filed Jul. 31, 2003, currently pending, which claims thepriority of Korean Patent Application No. 2002-48706, filed on Aug. 17,2002, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures ofwhich are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an optical information storage mediumand a method of recording information thereon, and more particularly, toan optical information storage medium on which write protectioninformation and defect management information are recorded, and a methodof recording such information thereon.

2. Description of the Related Art

Optical discs are generally used as information storage media of opticalpickup devices which record information on and/or reproduce informationfrom the optical discs without contacting the optical discs. Opticaldiscs are classified as either compact discs (CDs) or digital versatilediscs (DVDs) according to their information recording capacity. CDs andDVDs further include CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVD+RWs, DVD-random access memories(DVD-RAMs), DVD-R/rewritables (DVD−RWs), and so forth. Furthermore,high-density digital versatile discs (HD-DVD) having a recordingcapacity of 20 GB or more have been developed.

When a user uses such an optical disc, the user may desire not to recordsupplemental information on the optical disc any more, depending on theintended use of the optical disc. For example, when the user desires toonly reproduce data recorded as archived files, additional data must beprevented from being recorded on the optical disc. For this, the needfor recording write protection information has been raised and writeprotection information has been already recorded on DVD-RAM/R/RWs.However, even when the optical disc is write-protected, a portion of theoptical disc should be recordable, if necessary. For example, even ifthe optical disc is write-protected, data should be able to be recordedin an area such as a spare area so that a defect area can be replacedwith the spare area in order to manage defects, and as such, the writeprotection information and the defect management information should beable to be recorded on the optical disc, too.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an optical information storage medium onwhich defect management information necessary for indicating whetherdefect management is permitted is recorded when write protectioninformation is recorded, and a method of recording information thereon.

Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth inpart in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious fromthe description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided anoptical information storage medium including a lead-in area, a data zonein which user data is recorded, and a lead-out area. Here, writeprotection information is recorded along with defect managementinformation in at least one of the lead-in area and lead-out area.

The data zone includes an inner spare area and an outer spare area,which are to replace a defect area, and a user data area in which theuser data is recorded, and if the defect area can be managed, the userdata area is write-protected. A drive test zone and a discidentification zone included in at least one of the lead-in area and thelead-out area, and the inner spare area and/or the outer spare area arerecordable.

If the defect area cannot be managed, the user data area and a defectmanagement zone included in at least one of the lead-in area and thelead-out area are write-protected. A drive test zone included in atleast one of the lead-in area and the lead-out area and a discidentification zone which is included in at least one of the lead-inarea and the lead-out area and in which the write protection informationis recorded are recordable.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is providedan optical storage medium comprising: a lead-in area; a data zone inwhich user data is recorded; and a lead-out area, wherein a writeprotection information is recorded to indicate one of and differentiatebetween a plurality of write protection statuses of the optical storagemedium, each one of the plurality of write protection statusesindicating a size of a corresponding write protected area of the opticalstorage medium.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of recording information on and/or reproducing information froman optical information storage medium including a lead-in area, a userdata zone in which user data is recorded, and a lead-out area. Writeprotection information is recorded. Defect management informationnecessary for indicating whether a defect area occurring whenreproducing data can be managed is recorded.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of recording information on and/or reproducing information froman optical storage medium including a lead-in area, a data zone in whichuser data is recorded, and a lead-out area, the method comprising:recording write protection information which indicates one of anddifferentiates between a plurality of write protection statuses of theoptical storage medium, one of the statuses being to allow defectmanagement of a write protected optical storage medium.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is providedan apparatus for recording data on and/or reproducing data from anoptical storage medium, the apparatus comprising: a pickup to recorddata on and/or reproduce data from the optical storage medium; a systemcontroller that records write protection information for indicating oneof and differentiating between a plurality of write protection statusesof the optical storage medium, each one of the plurality of writeprotection statuses indicating a size of a corresponding write protectedarea.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofthe preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the structure of an optical information storagemedium according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining a method of recording write protectioninformation on an optical information storage medium according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an apparatus for recording data and/orreproducing data from an optical information storage medium according toan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a method of recording data and/orreproducing data from an optical information storage medium according toan embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a method of recording data and/orreproducing data from an optical information storage medium according toanother embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferredembodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustratedin the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer tothe like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below inorder to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates the schematic structure of an optical informationstorage medium (a disc) including a lead-in area 10, a data zone 20 inwhich user data is recorded, and a lead-out area 30. The lead-in area 10may include a disc test zone 10 a, a drive test zone 10 b, a defectmanagement zone 10 c, a disc identification zone 10 e, and a buffer zone10 f. The lead-in area 10 may further include at least one reserved zone10 d in which other pieces of information can be recorded.

Disc control information or information on the state of the disc can begenerally recorded in the disc identification zone 10 e. In the presentinvention, write protection information and defect managementinformation can be recorded in the disc identification zone 10 e. Thedisc identification zone 10 e can also be called a “disc-relatedinformation zone” or a “disc control zone” according to various formats.The lead-out area 30 has a similar structure to the lead-in area 10, andthus will not be described herein.

The data zone 20 includes an inner spare area 20 a and an outer sparearea 20 c, which are to be replaced with a defect area, and a user dataarea 20 b in which user data is recorded. If the user data area 20 b hasa defect area, data recorded in the defect area is copied into the innerspare area 20 a and/or the outer spare area 20 c. In other words, if adefect area A appears when reproducing data recorded in the user dataarea 20 b, the defect area A may be replaced with a predetermined area Bof the inner spare area 20 a.

Meanwhile, information on the defect area and information on the innerspare area 20 a or the outer spare area 20 c with which the defect areahas been replaced can be recorded in the defect management zone 10 c.Further, data can be reliably recorded and/or reproduced by managing thedefect area. The information recorded in the defect management zone 10 cmay be, for example, position information on the defect area and thearea with which the defect area has been replaced.

FIG. 2 illustrates write protection information recorded in a byte in apredetermined error correcting code (ECC) block of the discidentification zone 10 e. Here, the following information can berecorded according to bit values. TABLE 1 Byte Contents 00000000b Normalrecording 00000001b Write protection information for (permanently)write- protecting all areas 00000010b Write protection informationpermitting defect management 000000011 Write protection information notpermitting defect management

In Table 1, “normal recording” indicates that data can be recorded,erased, and reproduced. “Write protection information forwrite-protecting all areas” indicates that data must not be recorded inall areas any more, i.e., all areas are permanently write-protected. Inthis case, additional defect management is not necessary and the writeprotection information cannot be amended.

“Write protection information permitting defect management” indicatesthat defects occurring when recording or reproducing data can bemanaged. Here, since information about the defect area has to berecorded to manage the defects, the defect management zone 10 c of thelead-in area 10 should be recordable. Also, since data recorded in thedefect area has to be copied into a spare area (e.g., the inner spacearea 20 a or the outer space area 20 b) so that the spare area replacesthe defect area, the inner spare area 20 a and the outer spare area 20 chave to be recordable. The drive test zone 10 b and the discidentification zone 10 e also have to be recordable. Write protectioninformation and defect management information is recorded in the discidentification zone 10 e. Here, the write protection information may beselectively recorded by a user. In other words, the user can firstrecord write protection information indicating that the disc is writeprotected in the disc identification zone 10 e. Later, the user canrecord information indicating that the disc is recordable in the discidentification zone 10 e. Thus, it is preferable that the discidentification zone 10 e is recordable so that the write protectioninformation can be updated. As described above, in an event that thewrite protection information permitting defect management is recorded,only the user data area 20 b is write-protected.

“Write protection information not permitting defect management”indicates that defects occurring when recording or reproducing datacannot be managed. In this case, all areas are write-protected exceptthe drive test zone 10 b and the disc identification zone 10 e. In otherwords, since the defects cannot be managed, the defect management zone10 c, the inner spare area 20 a, the outer spare area 20 c, and the userdata area 20 b are write-protected. Here, even if the defects cannot bemanaged, it is preferable that the drive test zone 10 b is recordable toreproduce data and the disc identification zone 10 e is recordable toupdate the write protection information and the defect managementinformation.

As shown in FIG. 2, in an embodiment of the present invention, the writeprotection information is recorded in a byte in the disc identificationzone 10 e, i.e., in an N byte. However, the write protection informationmay be recorded in a plurality of bytes. Here, the write protectioninformation and the defect management information can be recorded by acombination of bits in a predetermined byte. Alternatively, the writeprotection information and the defect management information may berecorded in separate bytes. In other words, the write protectioninformation may be recorded in the N byte and the defect managementinformation may be recorded in an (N+1) byte.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the write protectioninformation and the defect management information can be recorded in atleast one of the lead-in area 10 and the lead-out area 30. However,since the write protection information and the defect managementinformation recorded in the lead-in area 10 or the lead-out area 30 maybe damaged, the write protection information and the defect managementinformation may be recorded in both the lead-in area 10 and the lead-outarea 30.

In a method of recording information on an optical information storagemedium according to an embodiment of the present invention, writeprotection information can be recorded in at least one of the lead-inarea 10 and the lead-out area 30, along with defect managementinformation necessary for indicating whether a defect area occurringwhen recording or reproducing data can be managed. The write protectioninformation and the defect management information can be, for example,recorded in the disc identification zone 10 e. As an example, the writeprotection is recorded to indicate one of a plurality of writeprotection statuses of the optical storage medium, and the writeprotection information may include information with regard to whether toallow defect management of the write protected optical storage medium.

If the defect management information indicates that the defect area canbe managed, the drive test zone 10 b, the defect management zone 10 c,the inner spare area 20 a, and the outer spare area 20 c are recordable,and only the user data area 20 b is write-protected. If the defectmanagement information indicates that the defect area cannot be managed,the defect management zone 10 c, the inner spare area 20 a, the outerspare area 20 c, and the user data area 20 b are write-protected.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an apparatus 100 for recording data and/orreproducing data from an optical information storage medium according tothe present invention. During recording, an AV codec 110compression-codes an externally applied AV signal according to apredetermined compression scheme and supplies size information for thecompressed data. A digital signal processor (DSP) 120 receives thecompressed A/V data supplied from the AV codec 110, adds additional datafor error correction code (ECC) processing thereto, and performsmodulation using a predetermined modulation scheme. A radio frequencyamplifier (RF AMP) 130 converts the modulated data from the DSP 120 intoa radio frequency (RF) signal. Then, a pickup 140 records the RF signalsupplied from the RF AMP 130 on a disc mounted on a turntable of thepickup 140. A servo 150 receives information necessary for servo controlfrom a system controller 160 and stably performs a servo function forthe mounted disc.

During playback of information data stored on the disc, the pickup 140picks up an optical signal from the disc having the information datastored therein, and the information data is extracted from the opticalsignal. The RF AMP 130 converts the optical signal into an RF signal,and extracts a servo signal, for performing a servo function, andmodulated data. The DSP 120 demodulates the modulated data supplied fromthe RF AMP 130 corresponding to the modulation scheme used duringmodulation, performs an ECC process to correct errors, and eliminatesadded data. The servo unit 150 receives information necessary for servocontrol from the RF AMP 130 and the system controller 160, and stablyperforms the servo function. The AV codec 110 decodes the compressed ANdata supplied from the DSP 120 to output an A/V signal. The systemcontroller 160 controls the overall system for recording the informationdata on and reproducing the information data from the disc mounted onthe turntable of the pickup 140.

Thus, the data recording and/or reproducing apparatus 100 can record thevarious types of information on the disc as described with reference toFIGS. 1 and 2, and/or reproduce the various types of information fromthe disc.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a process of performing a datarecording and/or reproducing method using the data recording and/orreproducing apparatus having the above-described structure, according toan embodiment of the present invention. In operation S10, a drivesearches a disc for a physical address corresponding to a logicaladdress requested by a host according to a reproduction command inputfrom the host to reproduce data. Here, the drive corrects errors whilereproducing data on an ECC block-by-block basis. Thus, if a defect or anerror cannot be eliminated or corrected, the drive cannot reproduce datarecorded in a block having the defect or the error. However, if thedefect or the error in the block can be corrected by an ECC process,data can reproduced. Here, defects satisfying preset defect correctionrequirements can be corrected and managed. Thus, if an error-correctabledefect occurs during reproduction of data in operation S20, in operationS30, information on the position of a defect area is stored in a memory170 built in the system controller 160.

For example, referring to FIG. 1, if a defect appears in a fifth blockwhen the drive reproduces data, information necessary for indicatingthat the fifth block is the defect area A is stored in the memory 170.Thereafter, in operation 40, the drive finishes reproducing informationand the host does not give a reproduction command any more, i.e., thedrive goes from a reproduction mode to a standby mode or the informationstorage medium is unloaded out of the drive. In operation 50, theposition information of the defect area A stored in the memory 170 isread and data recorded in the defect area A (the fifth block) is copiedinto the predetermined area B of the inner spare area 20 a or the outerspare area 20 c, which is to replace the defect area A, while beingreproduced. In operation 60, information on the positions of the defectarea A and the predetermined area B are recorded as defect managementinformation in the defect management zone 10 c.

As described above, data of the defect area A copied into thepredetermined area B can be reproduced using defect managementinformation when reproducing the data recorded in the defect area A. Inother words, by recording defect management information, data can bereliably reproduced by managing defects even if write protectioninformation is recorded.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining a process of performing a datarecording and/or reproducing method using the data recording and/orreproducing apparatus 100 having the above-described structure,according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring toFIG. 5, in operations 70 and 80, a defect area appears when reproducingdata according to a reproduction command input from a host. In operation90, the defect area is replaced with a predetermined area of the innerspare area 20 a or the outer spare area 20 c. In operation 100,information on the positions of the defect area and the replaced areaare recorded as defect management information in the defect managementzone 10 c. In the present embodiment, if a defect area appears, thedefect area is immediately replaced with a predetermined area andinformation on the positions of the defect area and the predeterminedarea is recorded. Thus, an auxiliary memory is not necessary. The datarecording and/or reproducing method described in the present embodimentcan be performed when a recording and/or reproduction speed is fasterthan a speed demanded by a host.

Even when an information storage medium is write-protected, defects canbe managed according to the above-described embodiments of the presentinvention.

While not required in all aspects, it is understood that the systemcontroller 160 can be computer implementing the method using a computerprogram encoded on a computer readable medium. The computer can beimplemented as a chip having firmware, or can be a general or specialpurpose computer programmable to perform the method.

In addition, it is understood that, in order to achieve a recordingcapacity of several dozen gigabytes, the pickup 140 could include a lowwavelength, high numerical aperture type unit usable to record dozens ofgigabytes of data on the disc. Examples of such units include, but arenot limited to, those units using light wavelengths of 405 nm and havingnumerical apertures of 0.85, those units compatible with Blu-ray discs,and/or those units compatible with Advanced Optical Discs (AODs).

As described above, in an optical information storage medium and amethod of recording information thereon according to the presentinvention, write protection information can be recorded together withdefect management information necessary for indicating whether defectsoccurring when reproducing data can be managed. Even if the informationstorage medium is write-protected, the defects can be selectivelymanaged using the defect management information. Thus, the writeprotection information indicates a size of a write protected areadifferentiated from a plurality of sized of write protected areas,wherein one of the statuses allows defect management of the writeprotected optical information storage medium.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and describedwith reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understoodby those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form anddetails may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as defined by the following claims.

1. A reproducing apparatus for use in reproducing data from an opticalstorage medium having a lead-in area having write protection informationand a data zone having user data, the apparatus comprising: an opticalpickup to reproduce the data from the lead-in area and the data zone;and a controller to control the optical pickup to reproduce the data, todetect the write protection information reproduced from the lead-inarea, the write protection information indicating one of a plurality ofwrite protection statuses of the optical storage medium and beingselectable between each of the plurality of write protection statuses,and reproduce the data from the data zone of the optical storage mediumand perform defect management on the reproduced data according to thereproduced write protection information.
 2. The reproducing apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the controller, while reproducing the write protectioninformation, detects a set of bits and determines from the set of bits asize of a write protected area of the medium and if defect management isto be performed.
 3. The reproducing apparatus of claim 1, wherein thewrite protection information is selectable to at least individuallyindicate and differentiate between each of the following states: a firststatus in which write protection is applied to the lead-in area and thedata zone; a second status in which write protection is not applied tothe lead-in area and areas of the data zone used for defect management,and is applied to remaining areas of the data zone not used for thedefect management; a third status in which write protection is notapplied to the lead-in area and is applied to the data zone; and afourth status in which write protection is not applied to the lead-inarea and the data zone.
 4. The reproducing apparatus of claim 3,wherein, if the reproduced write protection information indicates thefirst status, the controller reproduces the data without performingdefect management.
 5. The reproducing apparatus of claim 3, wherein, ifthe reproduced write protection information indicates the second status,the controller reproduces the data and performs defect management of thereproduced data by recording defect management information in arewritable portion of the lead-in area and recording data otherwisereproduced in a defective area of the data zone in a rewritable portionof the data zone designated as a replacement area.
 6. The reproducingapparatus of claim 3, wherein, if the reproduced write protectioninformation indicates the third status, the controller reproduces thedata without performing defect management with respect to the data zone.7. The reproducing apparatus of claim 3, wherein, when the reproducedwrite protection information indicates the third status, the controllerfurther rewrites the write protection information to be the secondstatus so as to perform defect management.
 8. The reproducing apparatusof claim 7, wherein, if the reproduced write protection information isrewritten to indicate the second status, the controller reproduces thedata and performs defect management of the reproduced data by recordingdefect management information in a rewritable portion of the lead-inarea and recording data otherwise reproduced in a defective area of thedata zone in a rewritable portion of the data zone designated as areplacement area.
 9. The reproducing apparatus of claim 7, wherein, whenthe write protection information indicates the fourth status, thecontroller determines the optical recording medium to not be writeprotected.
 10. The reproducing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lead-inarea includes a disc identification zone, and the controller reproducesthe write protection information from the disc identification zone. 11.A reproducing apparatus for use in reproducing data from an opticalstorage medium having a lead-in area having write protection informationand a data zone having user data, the apparatus comprising: an opticalpickup to reproduce the data from the lead-in area and the data zone;and a controller to control the optical pickup to reproduce the data, toreproduce the write protection information from the lead-in area, thewrite protection information being selectable between a first state anda second state, recognize a portion of the lead-in area as being writeprotected if the write protection information is in the first state andas not being write protected if the write protection information is inthe second state, and reproduce the user data from the data zone of theoptical storage medium and perform defect management on the reproduceduser data according to the reproduced write protection information. 12.The reproducing apparatus of claim 11, wherein, when the writeprotection information is in the second state, the controller recognizesthe data zone as being entirely write protected and does not perform thedefect management in the data zone.
 13. The reproducing apparatus ofclaim 11, wherein, when the write protection information is in thesecond state, the controller recognizes a user data portion of the datazone as being entirely write protected, and performs the defectmanagement on a portion of the data zone which is not write protected.14. The reproducing apparatus of claim 13, wherein, when the writeprotection information is in the second state, the controller detects adefect during reproduction of the data and performs the defectmanagement to account for the defect by writing data corresponding to adefective area of the data zone in a spare area of the data zone andwriting corresponding defect management information in the lead-in area.15. A reproducing apparatus for use in reproducing data from an opticalstorage medium having a lead-in area having write protection informationand a data zone having user data, the apparatus comprising: an opticalpickup to reproduce the data from the lead-in area and the data zone;and a controller to control the optical pickup to reproduce the data, toreproducing the write protection information from the lead-in area, thewrite protection information indicating that a user data area of theoptical storage medium is write protected, and reproduce the data fromthe user data area and perform defect management on the reproduced dataaccording to the reproduced write protection information.
 16. Thereproducing apparatus of claim 15, wherein: the write protected area isincluded in a data zone having a spare area, the write protectioninformation indicates that a portion of the lead-in area is not writeprotected and the spare area is not write protected, and the controllerperforms the defect management using the non-write protected portions ofthe lead-in area and the spare area.
 17. The reproducing apparatus ofclaim 16, wherein the controller further rewrites the write protectioninformation to indicate that the spare area is write protected toprevent performing additional defect management using the spare area.18. A reproducing apparatus for use in reproducing data from an opticalstorage medium having a lead-in area, a data zone in which user data isrecorded, and a lead-out area, the apparatus comprising: an opticalpickup to reproduce the data from the optical storage medium; and acontroller to control the optical pickup to reproduce the data, and toreproduce write protection information which indicates one of aplurality of write protection statuses of the optical storage medium,one of the statuses which can be indicated by the write protectioninformation being to allow defect management of a write protectedoptical storage medium.
 19. A reproducing apparatus for use inreproducing data from an optical storage medium having a lead-in area, adata zone in which user data is recorded, and a lead-out area, theapparatus comprising: an optical pickup to reproduce the data from theoptical storage medium; and a controller to control the optical pickupto reproduce the data, and to reproduce write protection informationwhich indicates one of a plurality of write protection statuses of theoptical storage medium, each one of the plurality of write protectionstatuses indicating a corresponding size of a corresponding writeprotected area.
 20. A reproducing apparatus for use in reproducing datafrom an optical storage medium having a lead-in area, a data zone, and alead-out area, the apparatus comprising: an optical pickup to reproducethe data from the optical storage medium; a memory; and a controller tocontrol the optical pickup to reproduce the data, reproduce writeprotection information which indicates one of a plurality of writeprotection statuses of the optical storage medium, one of the statusesbeing to allow defect management of a write protected optical storagemedium, record information on a position of a defect area appearingduring reproduction of data in the memory, after completing thereproduction of the data, copying data recorded in the defect area intoa predetermined area of the data zone using the position information ofthe defect area recorded in the memory if the write protectioninformation indicates that the write protection status allows defectmanagement, and record the position information of the defect area andinformation on the position of the predetermined area of the data zoneinto which the data recorded in the defect area has been copied if thewrite protection information indicates that the write protection statusallows defect management.